[Introduced March 1, 2013; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary .]

____________

A BILL to amend and reenact §25-1A-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to administrative remedies for
prisoners generally; defining "administrative remedies";
bringing law into federal compliance; and requiring that a
prisoner first exhaust such remedies prior to resorting to
litigation.Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §25-1A-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:ARTICLE 1A. WEST VIRGINIA PRISONER LITIGATION REFORM ACT.
§25-1A-2. Mandatory exhaustion of administrative remedies.
(a) An inmate may not bring a civil action until the
administrative remedies promulgated by the facilityagency have
been exhausted.Provided, That the remedies promulgated by the facility will be deemed completed within sixty days from the date
the inmate filed his or her initial complaint if the inmate fully
complied with the requirements for filing and appealing the
administrative complaint.
(b) As used in this section, an "administrative remedy" is an
administrative process or processes whereby a prisoner presents
concerns relating to all aspects of prison life, whether it
involves general circumstances or particular episodes including,
but not limited to, complaints concerning food quality, health
care, appeals of prison discipline, physical plant, classification,
staff treatment or some other alleged wrong. The Commissioner of
the Division of Corrections and the Executive Director of the
Regional Jail Authority are authorized to establish such
administrative remedy procedures for processing inmate complaints
concerning food quality, health care, nonviolent or nonsexual
conduct of employees or contractors of the Division of Corrections
or Regional Jail Authority, loss of privileges and other general
complaints about daily living conditions which do not directly and
seriously concern an inmate's physical health or security. The
proposed joint legislative rule required by the prior enactment of
this subsection shall be withdrawn. The commissioner and the
executive director shall, by January 31, 2001, each file a
procedural rule in accordance with the provisions of article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to meet the requirements of this subsection. The public comment period conducted for the
proposed legislative rule shall serve as the public comment period
required by section five, article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of
this codeaccording to their respective authority for issuance of
policies governing the conduct of inmates. All administrative
remedies and related procedures shall be in conformity with the
National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape,
as may be approved by the United States Attorney General pursuant
to the Prison Rape Elimination Act, 42 U.S.C. § 15601 et seq.
____(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this code, no
inmate shall be prevented from filing an appeal of his or her
conviction or bringing a civil or criminal action alleging past,
current or imminent physical or sexual abuse; if such a civil or
criminal action is ultimately dismissed by a judge as frivolous,
then the inmate shall pay the filing costs associated with the
civil or criminal action as provided for in this article.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that a prisoner
exhaust administrative remedies prior to bringing a civil action.
The bill would further bring the law into compliance with the
Prison Rape Elimination Act, 42 U.S.C. § 15601 et seq.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.